Con Ed Sued Over Woman’s Death in Hurricane

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 18, 2013

The mother of a 23-year-old woman who was electrocuted by a downed power line in Queens during Hurricane Sandy filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on Wednesday against Consolidated Edison, accusing the power company of negligence in failing to shut down the electricity before the storm hit.

The woman, Lauren Abraham, “burned alive, writhing and screaming” for 30 minutes while her neighbors and friends watched helplessly, unable to touch her because the wire was still live, the complaint says.

Ms. Abraham, a makeup artist, was killed on Oct. 29 when she walked outside of her home to take photographs.

“The flames grew so large that one neighbor did not even realize that a person was being burned,” the complaint says.

The complaint filed by Ms. Abraham’s mother, Kim Tinnin, accuses Con Edison of negligence and seeks unspecified damages. It says emergency personnel had to watch Ms. Abraham burn while the utility took about two hours to shut down the source of electricity to the power line.

Ms. Abraham, who went by the nickname LolaDiva on YouTube, worked out of a studio in her parents’ home. She had recently graduated from beauty school and was studying at the City University of New York’s Lehman College, according to her Facebook page.

A Con Ed spokesman, Bob McGee, said the company had not yet been served with a file copy of the complaint. “This was a tragedy caused” by the hurricane, Mr. McGee said. “We’ll address the matter in court.”